WILL THE REPUBLICANS BOTCH THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION?

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On the eve of the first GOP debate in Cleveland (August 6, 2015), I want to comment on the the Republican Party’s chances for taking back the White House in 2016 and breaking the gridlock in Washington. I have been a loyal Republican since 1972, representing the first class of eighteen year olds given the right to vote. Over the years, I have voted in numerous elections, believing each was more important than the last. However, I do not believe the stakes can be any higher than the 2016 elections as the country appears headed in the wrong direction, at least according to Rasmussen and Gallup. Frankly, I am not optimistic of the Republican chances for success. This is a new world, with new perspectives and thinking in play. There is nothing wrong with the GOP’s message of smaller government, empowerment of business and people, financial responsibility, and belief in God and the US Constitution, but I’m not sure young voters are listening or comprehend it.

I have five concerns bothering me this election cycle:

1. There are currently 17 GOP candidates in the running for president, the most in the last 50 years or longer. Such a large number gives the impression the Republican Party hasn’t a clear front runner. I hope those candidates who do not fare well in Iowa and New Hampshire will withdraw early, so we can begin to build on a front runner. Anyone who overstays their time in the race will only hurt the party. As an aside, I am frequently asked which candidate I prefer. Although I have my favorites, my standard answer is, “Anyone other than Hillary or a liberal,” meaning I honestly believe any of the GOP candidates would do a better job than a Democrat.

As to the upcoming debates, here are the questions I would ask the candidates and, No, I wouldn’t bother with anything regarding the Confederate flag, gay rights or giving away the store, but rather, how we can invigorate business, raise the GDP, increase jobs and wages, make America competitive again, balancing the budget and reducing the trade deficit. I would also like to know their thoughts on social engineering, declining morality, immigration, health care, defeating ISIS and Muslim terrorists, and putting Russia and China in check. We need discussions of substance, not facade.

2. Since winning the Senate in 2014, thereby assuming control over both chambers of Congress, the Republicans have not displayed any significant form of unity. We have thus far seen rifts between moderates and conservatives, and between the House and the Senate. They also give the impression they are afraid to confront the president. Mr. Obama may have veto power, and is willing to exercise it, but the Congress holds the purse strings and appears unwilling to assume their fiduciary responsibilities. I am frankly tired of hearing Congress whine about the president yet refuse to challenge him. If they are truly incapable of standing up to the President, perhaps it is time to elect new Congressmen.

3. I recently had a glimpse of the party’s infrastructure and, as a management consultant with nearly forty years of experience, the GOP appears to be woefully weak in terms of systems. They know how to solicit money, but not much else. As a systems man, I can see they desperately need vertical mobility in data bases, from the federal, to state, to county, to city, to Republican club. Currently, there is nothing remotely like this available to the GOP, just separate and incompatible data bases which greatly hampers their ability to administer their membership.

They should also establish “standard practices” for all levels of the Republican infrastructure. This includes such things as accounting, membership, communications, etc. This does two things: It makes the GOP more productive, particularly when new board members are introduced, and; it brings uniformity to the operations between Republican units.

The party also needs to adopt a program to effectively communicate to their membership. Currently nothing exists to this effect other than the mainstream media. Through such a vehicle, they could educate their members, as well as the public. Since the integrity of the press is in question, this would provide a mechanism to present the Republican side of an issue.

4. I find it rather disturbing, the Republican Party is trying to win an election in the 21st century, using campaign tactics from the 20th, e.g.; campaigning door-to-door and telephone calls, both of which tend to irritate people today as opposed to soliciting their support.

If you want to attract young people to the party, you must devise an “app” for them to access news and information via their smart phones, tablets, laptops, or desktop computers. This is an area where the Democrats have an edge as demonstrated in the last two presidential elections. The GOP needs to build an app to disseminate GOP news and advertisements, coming events, access to information resources (e.g., position papers), and monitors what the user is looking at (data mining) to fine tune campaign strategies.

5. And finally there is the matter of the Hillary Factor. During the 2008 presidential cycle, she self-destructed in her race against Mr. Obama. Now it looks like she is going to do it again. Her missteps during the campaign, including Benghazi and the Clinton Foundation, is hampering her credibility and trustworthiness in the opinion polls. In other words, Hillary Clinton is giving the Republicans ample opportunity to take her down, but are they smart enough to do so? I’m no longer certain.

If the Republicans lose the 2016 presidential election, they only have themselves to blame. I may be a loyal member of the party, but as a management consultant, I see a lot of dry rot in their operations. The fact I am asking these questions, a 43 year Republican, is symptomatic of the lack of confidence growing in the party. I just hope they do not grasp defeat from the jaws of victory.

I am sorry if I appear to be the child who exclaims, “The Emperor has no clothes,” but the GOP needs to quit fooling around and get their act together. The stakes are simply too high.

Keep the Faith!

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Wayne Brownsaid

In light of those items you point out here regarding the “established” Republican Party, I truly believe that it could take a lesson from Trump in “getting out your message”. In the short time that Donald Trump has had his hat in the ring, he has delivered more information on the conservative stance than the Republicans have in the past four years. The party suffers from the age old assumption found in sales–“we need new customers because we already have our old ones!” Certainly the party needs to continually attract new additions but it must never forget to sustain the existing base. From my perspective, it seems that the party leadership just assumes that the base will be there come voting day thus they focus on trying to send a message that will earn the minority vote and that of the independent. Their paranoia does not allow them to deliver that message straight-forwardly as we see Trump delivering. In the end, the message that comes through from the party falls woefully short of getting at the truth. In reality, the Republican Party has traded truth for political correctness–a very bad deal. At the moment, the credibility of the party with the base rides heavily on Congress getting off its butt and out of the appeasement business along with calling Obama to task for his “crimes” against this nation. If Trump departs the Republican fold for an independent try at the White House, the impact of his effort will make the paltry 19% of the vote obtained by Perot pale in comparison. Neither the Democrats or the Republicans want Trump in this race because both of them are afraid that he may be right and a multitude of people agree with him.

Tuller, Jim {BORDEN}said

Paul Erglersaid

It pains me to say that I have become rather disgusted with the Republican party, particularly Congress, over the last number or years. They (we) need to grow a pair and stand up to the Democrooks. Unfortunately, Hillary will win because of all those voting for Santa Claus as well as her election day strategy of sending buses to all the cemeteries to take take voters to the polls.

“If they choose Christie or Graham or Bush… then yes they will lose…and they will deserve to lose. To combat Hillary Rodent (Her new name), you need a strong Conservative candidate that will define himself not as Democrat light but as a Conservative.”

asaid

I honestly think the Republican Party have a long way to go. They have the same party politics for ever and ever. I am Irish and I would vote Republican if they were more focused on current politics and not power at any cost. I also feel that Chris Christie is there best candidate.

“If history continues to repeat itself and the GOP continues on its current path – rest assured they will sell the country out with their myopic greed and we can expect to see Little Johnny Boehner give yet another display of crying and whining…”

“Thanks for the post, In my opinion if you are in the bottom 7 right now it pretty much means you couldn’t get any traction on your campaign. Spare us the continued division between candidates and the watering down of the messages by 17 instead of hearing varied versions by a few. Pick up your poker chips and leave the table, I think there’s enough talent in the top ten to get a winner as it stands, ie: Perry is never going to win, he’s better served supporting the GOP instead of demonizing the front runners.”

“You have brought up the very same questions and issues I have been mentioning since they won the 2012 elections. My fear is that they won, but they didn’t LEARN the lessons they needed to learn to (a) keep the majority in both houses, (b) take the white house, and (c) actually become a relevant political party in the minds of the majority of the people again.”